


Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979

by pocky_slash



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Background Relationships, Gen, M/M, Mixed Media, School, meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/pseuds/pocky_slash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>H. McCoy expresses, for the record, his opposition to the hiring of M. Eisenhardt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ang3lsh1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ang3lsh1/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this! It was a blast to write and a lot of fun to put together! 
> 
> Thanks to [redacted] for the beta and the cheerleading. You are, as always, a lifesaver.

"Honestly!" Charles says in the silence that follows his open hand smacking the table top. "We're not children. Let's be civilized, please."

"Tell that to him," Alex mutters. Charles sees Armando kick him under the table.

"What was that?" Erik asks coolly.

"Nothing," Alex mutters.

"That goes for you as well," Charles says to Erik. His eyes flash for a moment, ruffled at being handled, obviously itching for a fight, but in the end he settles back into his seat and says nothing. Charles nods approvingly and looks around the table. The only people who aren't irate are Irene, who's staring placidly at nothing and probably seeing far more than the rest of them, and Armando, who was the only person who didn't try to shout Charles down when he first made the suggestion of adding Erik to the staff. He wonders if it's Armando's naturally cool head or if it's the fact that he wasn't present for either of Erik's biggest infractions. Either way, Charles is glad to have at least one other person tentatively on his side, Irene, of course, being on no one's side save Raven's.

Raven had made her feelings on Erik's role at the school very clear. Though she doesn't normally attend these meetings anyway, she made it a point to send her lengthy regrets for this one.

"Now, Hank, let it be known that the matter is settled and we're moving on to the next agenda item," Charles says. Hank spares another glare for Erik and then goes back to taking minutes in hurried shorthand.

"That wasn't my fault," Alex and Moira say in unison.

"It's no one's fault," Charles says. "These things do happen when running a school for youngsters who frequently possess destructive powers they're only just beginning to understand."

"When he says _these things happen_ ," Armando whispers to Wanda, "he means _massive property damage_."

"I remember," Wanda says back, not bothering to whisper. "I did go here for a year. I remember when there used to be an orchard and I remember what happened to the orchard."

"That _really_ wasn't my fault," Alex says. "If anything, that was Hank's fault. I don't care how smart those kids were, no way should they have been playing with lasers like that."

"They may have started the fire, but it wasn't their fault it spread so quickly," Hank says mildly.

"Nor was it the fault of young Timothy that he couldn't summon his powers as quickly as he would have liked to douse the fire," Charles says. "It was an oversight on all our parts, really."

As was the old conservatory, the satellite dish, the swimming pool, the hedge maze, the old track, and the damage in the library that they spent the summer repairing. It was astonishing how quickly his _I shall only use my telepathy for noble reasons_ edict post-Cuba had turned into, _Except in the case of insurance agents, to whom I will happily lie through my teeth and brainwash if necessary._ It's incredibly hard to explain some of these incidents without compromising his students and staff and the bloody department of education requires the building be insured if he wants to remain accredited.

"I still say one of us should go into the insurance industry," Moira says, with the type of mind-reading that comes from years of friendship. "Between this and some of the stuff S.H.I.E.L.D. is working on, there's money to be made insuring against super-powered catastrophes."

"Is $25,000 of your budget really dedicated to repairing damage caused by the students?" Erik asks. In a move that would be comical if it wasn't so stymying and frustrating, Alex, Hank, and Moira all glare at him. "I am allowed to speak at these meetings, am I not?"

"Yes," Charles says through his teeth. "You are officially a part of the staff, at least for the next year, and I'm sure eventually everyone will act like adults and respect that decision."

Erik makes a noise that makes it clear that he remains skeptical. Charles adds Erik to the list of people he's currently not pleased with, ending his second longest ever inclusion on the list of people Charles _is_ currently pleased with at two days.

"It's not $25,000," Armando says. "It's--" He picks up the budget sheet and squints at it.

"It's $62,000 in the actual budget," Hank says. "The $25,000 is an additional fund for when we run over budget, which has happened to varying degrees every year the school has been in operation."

"They're children, aren't they?" Erik asks. "Teenagers? How can they cause that much damage?"

"You don't remember the fall of 1962 that well, do you?" Moira asks.

"Meditation?" Alex asks, looking up from the class schedule. "Seriously? That guy?"

"Are you questioning my credentials, Summers?" Erik asks.

"The whole reason any of us met you in the first place was because you were going on an epic revenge scheme that was going to end with you murdering like, everyone that got in your way," Alex says. "Once when we played music too loud while you guys were trying to play chess, you threatened to use the pipes to restrain us until morning."

Irene chuckles and Charles convinces himself that it's the image of Raven participating in a rowdy teenage party and not because she knows that he and Erik weren't playing chess the night that Erik threatened the kids.

"I spent ten years in solitary confinement," Erik says. "My temperament has changed."

"The fact that he didn't kill you just for asking that question is probably a good indicator of that," Moira points out, and Charles wishes he could kick her. He does the next best thing and pokes her psychically, but she ignores him.

"I promise you that Erik has been held to the same rigorous standards as the rest of you," Charles says coolly. Alex was teaching long before he finished his degree in geophysics--mostly training classes, some phys ed, and science for the youngest students, but still. 

Proving that his temperament, too, has changed in the past seventeen years, Alex closes his mouth and nods once, frowning.

"Fine," he says.

"Listen," Moira says, "I agree with you in theory, but--"

"No buts!" Charles says. "An education is still an important part of their lives. Some of them have never had a regular formal education before! This is their priority. Training is important, but it's not the most important thing."

"As much as it pains me to agree with MacTaggert," Erik says, "Isn't that what they're here for? They can get a human education anywhere. Isn't this place supposed to be a haven for mutants, where they can be themselves? How better than to let them use the abilities they've been given in whatever ways they want?"

Charles pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Because they are _children_ and if it was up to them, they'd use their powers to have snowball fights and steal snack cakes and cheat at baseball and sneak into concerts," Charles says. "Because while I certainly agree that they're here to learn that they're not alone and that their abilities are normal and natural and how best to use them, they also need an actual education. They won't be here forever--our job is to prepare them for the real world, and in order to hold down jobs and go to college, they need to know arithmetic and geography."

"I'm not contesting that," Moira says. "I just think that for some students, academics is never where they're going to excel, so they might as well put more effort into their training."

"I appreciate that," Charles says, "but my point stands. I'm the headmaster. Academics--whether it's our mutant ethics and mutant history courses or spelling and algebra--are important and I will not be party to a power struggle when students hand me passes saying they missed a class for more hours downstairs."

The table is quiet. Charles may have raised his voice a bit.

"I have another issue," Erik eventually says, after the silence has dragged on. Charles would have put even money on Moira being the one to break the silence, but perhaps he's overestimating Erik's caution in his new position. "I would like to be put on the training schedule."

"No," Moira and Charles say as one. It's good they can agree about one thing, at least.

"I'm perfectly capable--"

"No," Moira repeats. "I'm the lead of the training program, and until you can prove to me that you are committed to this school and not using this as an opportunity to recruit for your cause, you're not getting close to them."

"I've left that life behind," Erik says.

"Well, then, until you can prove to me that you can do more than push people off satellite dishes," Moira says. "It's not easy, working with kids. Prove to me that you can do it and we'll talk about it."

"I can't believe you have a human in charge of your training program," Erik says to Charles, looking past Moira as if she's not there. That's a mistake. Moira turns, poised to hit him, and is stopped only by Irene's cane, which stretches across the table and comes down between them, startling them both enough to freeze.

"Dr. MacTaggert does a lovely job of training the children," Irene says. "Dr. MacTaggert, I believe Mr. Lehnsherr will surprise you in the days to come. For the time being, let's allow Dr. Xavier to finish the meeting. It's imperative that we end on time."

That's...ominous. But sometimes Irene is ominous just for the sake of it. Best to just continue and hope whatever catastrophe is waiting for them after the meeting is minor.

"Wait, I'm on this schedule...a lot," Wanda says. "Is that because I'm new?"

"No," Armando says, "It's because we spent so many of our shifts chasing after you and your friends after lights-out that it's time for payback."

Wanda starts to reply, then glances around the table and prudently closes her mouth and accepts her due.

"Wait, who got C23?" Moira asks, scanning the list. "If Peter's in E14 now, like he asked in June, that means C23 is free and--"

Charles can't help his wince the moment she finds the number on the paper.

"Seriously?" she says flatly, looking up at Charles. "Seriously?"

"You already have the poshest office downstairs," Charles says to her. "You don't get first pick of upstairs offices too."

"Seriously?" Moira says again.

"And Armando and Alex finally got their adjoining offices and Hank prefers his by the lab, Stevie likes hers facing the garden, and it really made sense to put a new person there," Charles continues.

Erik glances down at his paper.

"I have C23," he says, looking up again. "I don't care where I work. What's so important about C23?"

"It gets the second best light and it's in the second best location after Charles' office," Moira says. "It's super roomy because it's the office he used to use before he switched, so there's lots of space."

"And it's right across the hall from his," Armando adds, smirking.

Erik looks at Armando, then at Moira, then at Charles.

"I rescind my offer to switch," he says.

"Did you really need to write out every single comment in opposition of my potential hire?" Erik asks Hank, eyebrows raised.

"It's my job as note-taker to be diligent in recording the proceedings," Hank says. "Also, I maintain that this is an awful idea, alias or not, and while I trust Charles' judgement, I'm also aware that even the wisest among us occasionally think with their--"

"Thank you, Hank!" Charles says loudly.

"Oh my god, I didn't need to know that," Wanda mutters.

"If I've, as you say, 'waived my parental rights by default,' then what does it matter to you?" Erik asks.

"Erik!" Charles snaps.

"At least I know I won't have any more surprise siblings," Wanda says.

"Not that it hasn't been lovely arguing with you all for the afternoon," Charles says. He has his own syllabi to finish, plus he told Peter and Hank he'd look theirs over, though he imagines they'll be fine, as usual. Alex's will be late, also as usual, but adequate. Moira will need to revise her expectations. Stevie will need to challenge her students more. There's a certain monotony to the start of the school year, but in a year like this, that's guaranteed to be fraught, he can't say he minds it.

"Charles, can I see you this afternoon in the labs?" Hank asks.

"Charles will be busy this afternoon," Irene says. "He'll have time after dinner."

He really needs Irene to stop doing that--it always makes him nervous.

"Who am I to argue with Ms. Adler?" Charles says to Hank. "This evening it is." Hank nods and gathers his papers together, and Charles turns back to Irene. "And why is it that I'll be so busy?"

"I believe Mr. Lehnsherr has the answer to that question," she replies.

"I'm not blowing off work for personal reasons," Charles says, although he has to admit the idea of a nooner has its appeal. He and Erik are slowly working on repairing their relationship, have slowly been working at it since the spring. Erik's put aside his quest for mutant supremacy to teach at the school and swears he has the students' best interests in mind, but they're still not always on the same page, and now that they're working towards a common goal, Charles doesn't find it as easy to ignore their differences once they're in the bedroom. His sex life has been rather abysmal since Erik moved in last week, contrary to the fantasies he's secretly allowed himself since Erik began to thaw earlier this year.

He eyes Erik hopefully.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too excited," Irene says. "Unfortunately, it has little to do with your romantic life and more to do with the edits that Mr. Lehnsherr has made to your mutant ethics textbooks this morning."

Erik smiles at him serenely.

"My office," Charles says through his teeth. "Immediately."


End file.
